Serena Williams wins in return to competition

DIGEST

Serena Williams looked right at home, and not just because her purple dress matched the color of the court.

Playing in her backyard tournament for the first time since 2009, the five-time champion beat Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-3 Thursday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla.

The victory marked Williams' return to tournament tennis after a two-month absence. And it was her first match at Key Biscayne since she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final three years ago.

Williams lives two hours up Interstate 95 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Ryan Harrison, a wild-card entry, rallied past Polito Starace 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 and will next face two-time champion Roger Federer. The match will be a gauge of progress for the 19-year-old Harrison, who is ranked 73rd but has yet to beat a top 10 player.

"He's very talented," Federer said, "and I'm sure he's going to be making his move up the rankings very easily this year and in the coming years. He has a big game."

ELSEWHERE

Frank Mattox memorial at Cal

Cal will hold a memorial service for Frank Mattox at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Alumni House on campus. Mr. Mattox died at his Peoria, Ariz., home Feb. 26. He was 49. Mr. Mattox went to Acalanes High and played four seasons (1981-84) as an infielder with the Bears. Mr. Mattox spent his professional life in baseball. After a seven-year minor-league career in the Milwaukee Brewers' organization, he worked as a scout for the Colorado Rockies. In 1995, he joined the Seattle Mariners' organization and had worked as a scout and in the Mariners' front office until his death.

Swimming: Defending national champion Cal used Marcin Tarczynski's title in the 200-yard individual medley and relay victories in the 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay to take the lead after the first night of the NCAA men's swimming championships in Federal Way, Wash. The Bears are 17.5 points ahead of second-place Stanford.

Soccer: Joe Corona scored three goals, and the U.S. under-23 team beat Cuba 6-0 in Nashville in the Americans' opening game of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. Juan Agudelo and Freddy Adu also scored, and Cuba had an own goal. The Americans will play Canada on Saturday night in the second of three games in the Group A round-robin tournament.

-- Marco Polo del Nero of Brazil has been selected to FIFA's executive committee as the replacement for Ricardo Teixeira by CONMEBOL, the governing body of South American soccer.

Jurisprudence: Former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky asked a judge in Harrisburg, Pa., to throw out the criminal charges against him in a filing that argued some counts were not specific enough, evidence was lacking in others and the statute of limitations may have run out for eight of the 10 alleged victims. The catch-all pretrial motion also sought to delay the May 14 start of his trial on child sexual abuse allegations, saying more time was needed to prepare a defense.

Speedskating: Denny Morrison of Canada won the 1,500-meter speedskating world title in Heerenveen, Netherlands, despite nearly crashing into Shani Davis of the United States.